Platoon

This seems like a disaster waiting for an opportunity. In the area where I live, they can’t even keep the bars and restaurants open, they keep getting cases. A couple have simply reclosed voluntarily. Even if they can pull it off, which I don’t think they can, the season will be mostly a travesty. Half of it will be played at a spring training level, and watching it on tv without fans in the background will ring hollow. And yes, that pun was intentional.

The whole thing is hard for me to understand. The Covid hasn’t changed. It’s the same now is it was when it reared it’s ugly head. It’s us who are trying to change. Trying to justify and explain away the belief that we can congregate now, when we didn’t think we could 2-3 months ago. The Covid hasn’t changed. There are businesses that HAVE to be open. Health care, food processing, farming, and many others. Are major league sports included? Or for that matter sports in general. Do the Mankato Moon Dogs have to play? MN just opened up summer outdoor sports with games allowed 6/24. Indoor sports 7/1. What’s the difference between those dates, besides 6 days. The Covid hasn’t changed. My grandson was to play in a tourney in Cooperstown this summer, which was cancelled due to the Covid. So now what? They are going to WI Dells in August. I asked what’s changed? The Covid hasn’t changed. After a long series of justifications, my daughter finally admitted, "well you gotta do something". The Covid will be glad to hear that the people have changed, they have given up. The Covid hasn’t.

Thanks, during the last three months I think of this clip often. There is nothing wrong with having problems to fix. There is something wrong with refusing to admit it.

Nope

>>>>>>" Our community is broken. Our country is broken." We live in the greatest country on earth. Our community/country is not broken. You are stating your opinion as fact. A tragic death lead to a protest which lead to planned riots and anarchists coming to Mpls and many large cities throughout the nation." There are things wrong with Nicks post, but "Our community is broken. Our country is broken.", isn’t one of them. The assertion that a tragic death led to this protest is somewhat simplistic. It disregards the totality of not only the last three months of news stories related to this issue, but the last 400 years as well. Toss in the Covid, and the resultant financial crisis, and you have far more than a "tragic death" in play here. We do live in a great country, but it’s not quite as great as we like to believe. Members of this site love metrics. And a precursory dive into a list of metrics that quantify our standings in the issues that define "great country" isn’t as pretty as some seem fo believe. Nicks piece and your response do have some positive points, and do have some of which I disagree with, But, until we all take a deep unvarnished look at what has and is happening in this country, we will never have the wherewithal to make it what we, in our wishful thinking, believe it now is.

IIRC I didn’t say I thought baseball should reopen. I said the players should get their prorata and the owners should take their losses. I desperately need a haircut, but it never dawned on me to tell some barber to open his shop and lose his butt so I could look my normal, and might I add very handsome self! That’s his decision. But if I knew for a fact said barber was going to do it on the backs of his employees, I would get my locks trimmed elsewhere. MLB owners are going to have to make the decision what they want to do. The question at hand was should the players take a cut, so owners with 9 digit net worths take less of a bath this year. My opinion is NOT. As for whether I actually want the game to resume? That’s not even that easy. The game will be somewhat weird, it will almost seem like scrimmages I would think. The idea of watching a game on tv, played in an empty stadium is somewhat unappealing. I have saw things like this on tv, and have attended two high school games in the Dome which were virtually empty. The esthetics just aren’t there. It will still be baseball, but the adrenaline won’t be present. The good news is the Astros won’t need a camera to steal signs, they can simply listen to the pitcher and catcher discuss them between innings.

The players are rich. The owners are wealthy, has been noted already. This is the core of this discussion. I do think there is too much emphasis on the high level well to do players. But much of MLB is not players of this status. There are an awful lot of the Arrez’s of the sport involved. And, while there income seems lofty to most of us we tend to forget that earning capacity is measured in a few years, not decades. Owners on the other hand have another core source of income and wealth. It’s not MLB that supports them. MLB is a side job, not their main source of income like a player. Owners opted into this gig for numerous reasons, and financial success wasn’t the only one. Status and visibility amongst their peers being a couple others. The players should get their pay based on 1/162 for games played. The owners should take their losses like big boys, just like they should have to in any other investment. Don’t get me wrong, they likely don’t do that in those cases either, they are always looking for someone to share their pain. It’s just that this is a much more public example of their desire to do so. The loss of income for some players will affect their lives for years. The loss of income to owners will be a line on a spreadsheet in their accountants office.

Well, this makes the first time I have ever saw Green Bay, magical, and glorious in one place, let alone one sentence! I have been in Green Bay, in January, in March, in July, and in November. Magical and glorious did not come to mind...... but Bloomington and Waite Park did.

I know it’s not exciting to watch pitchers hit early in a game, but it is interesting to watch the moves made by managers after the 6th inning. It also makes the manager, the bench players and middle relievers more important. It’s just simply a different game. One which personally I prefer. While the DH rule probably improves the offense, the NFL could do the same by making one cornerback position be manned by an offensive tackle. . Just because you can mandate rule changes, doesn’t mean they improve the game.

Every IF and every catcher from day one is encouraged to throw the ball 'over the top'. Dropping down causes balls to sail, sink, and slide up the line into the runner. Sidearm throwers generally generate less velocity also. Polanco’s arm is basically mediocre velocity wise, and subpar accuracy wise. I am surprised little has been said about his difficulties with the 3 hop ground ball? He plays short like a 3rd baseman, does well on rockets, struggles to adjust to the bouncing ball. I have made the following point before, and it fits Jorge to a 'T': The old saw in BB is that if you can hit they will find a place for you to play. I doubt the guy who first uttered those words ever intended that 'place' to be SS.

I would trade Max Kepler for him even up. Cleveland would find out that Max aint gonna hit 5 HR’s, or whatever it was, in a row off him anymore. Ps: Please don’t question my mental acuity on the Kepler trade, or anything else. That horse has left the paddock.

I grew up on a farm south of New Ulm, and have lived in a couple very small towns in the immediate area. That said I have managed to cross about 46 of the states, and quite a bit of Canada. After awhile it all blends together. I always thought age was simply a number, so I was astounded in reading about the recent medical issues in the world that I am "elderly"? I guess I should have noticed when they started giving me Senior Discounts without carding me. I played town ball baseball into my 20’s, obviously poorly or it would have been longer. I combined the unique blend of being able to hit neither a curveball or a fastball, with a lack of foot speed! But I played years of slow pitch and coached and umpired years more of baseball through all ages, up to adult. My favorite Twin is probably Harmon, but there’s a lot to chose from. I agree with the thought of Greg Gagne as under appreciated, especially since he is so under appreciated I didn’t think of him till someone else did! I have no idea how I discovered Twins Daily, but that phrase puzzles me since there were others on here already, sort of like Columbus found out. There is no favorite part, but in the past I was pretty fond of GT, but I do miss the snarkyness of the bygone losing era, that was combined with references to obscure knowledge. Some of that allure has sadly been replaced by baseball discussion. One of my favorite bloggers was Ed Thoma, I say was because he seems relatively inactive during the shutdown. Plus he pointed me to some excellent non baseball books by Bill James, if you are a true crime aficionado try "The Man on the Train". Baseball is still the same game as always. You ‘see the ball’, ‘hit the ball’ and with the exception of the Twins IF you ‘catch the ball’! That said it is discussed in different phraseology today, and the means to "count" results are much more intricate and detailed. But they all end up pointing in the same directions. Some things just won’t or can’t change. I wish I could see the game coming back this year in a meaningful fashion.at all levels. But I don’t see that happening, nor do I see TV ball in empty neutral stations, with a faux WS very satisfying. That said, GO Avondale Twins. )

And that road is a stunningly gorgeous drive in fall with a motorcycle.

Numerous! And in depth!

While a MLB season would be nice, and certainly a feel good tale at a time of few feel good anything’s, there are bigger fish to fry. Unless and until, everyone who needs a test for health reasons has one readily available MLB simply cannot be seen as appropriating tests so the owners and players can profit. If they cannot see that from a moral standpoint, maybe the public relations problems inherent to such a move would be enough to convince them of the heartlessness of such a decision. At least if a 3M plant is in operation to make masks, or a ventilator plant is running, the public good is being served. The rest of us will be able to get by not knowing who would be the winner of a faux World Series. On one other point. Please! Stop using WW2 as a comparison to the Covid. It’s apples to oranges, or worse broccoli. When baseball was played during the war, none of the players, umpires, staff, vendors or fans risked their lives by playing or attending. Nor did they risk the lives of others who did not attend by dispersing after the game. How long would it be before a visible participant, player, umpire, or broadcaster would be hospitalized, or worse die from that decision? Then what? Soldier on as we did during the war? Or admit the folly and suffer the repercussions? This isn’t WW2 which was fought across the ponds. This is right here, right now. There really is no correlation.

What happened to taking pitches? Working the count? Getting into the other teams bullpen? That was the "Bible" here for years. Comments about hitting the first good fast ball you saw were often dismissed as an out of control hitter, not helping the team. Somedays I think the game hasn’t changed at all, simply the nomenclature and the opportunities to elucidate on them, mine included.

"Cave is only a passable defender in short stints." Preferably between batting practice and the National Anthem.

This has to be the year Buxton is finally defined as an asset or a liability for the Twins. As asset if he can play anywhere close to his enormous abilities, and stay on the field for a majority of the season. He becomes a liability if he is again hurt and the Twins are again betwixt and between what to do about CF and the roster spot.

Whats sort of strange is no one seemed to see this coming or seems to have considered it? If so they aren’t admitting it. You put cameras in CF, monitors in the clubhouse, communications to the bench, and millions of dollars on the line, and expect purity? Really? You got to be kidding. First off there’s millions of dollars involved, secondly there is millions of dollars involved, third they have been stealing signs for years and shouldn’t have. In past years a lot of players didn’t want to receive stolen signs, the penalty could be painful. Now, with our abhorrence of such acts, it’s harmless fun. Well at least for the players. Sooner or later we will find out another team or two dabbled in the same thing. Should the Astros have done this? NO. But to be surprised or appalled they did seems somewhat delusional. If players will pump hazardous chemicals into themselves for financial reasons, they sure as heck won’t mind knowing a little more about pitch sequencing than is legal, to improve their numbers.

The Twins are a better team than they were last year in some facets. But to simply imply that the only thing that kept them from moving on in last years post season was "not hitting in three game sample" ignores the absolutely miserable display defensively, and some of the options they sent to the mound in NY. Of course if you meant that the hitters didn’t produce 12 runs per game, then the point had merit.

Some here use the term head hunting. Head hunting and throwing at some guy from the belt on down are two completely different acts. One is an intent to severely injure. The other is an intent to send a message. While I realize that not everyone discerns the difference, I do think the players do. As do I. If you asked me if it’s ok to plunk George Springer in the butt to thank him for stealing signs, I would be fine with that. If you asked me if it was ok to throw at George Springers head for the same reason I would be vehemently against it.

The Dark Man has a point, but in this case 4 rows may not have been far enough. One throw, talked about to this day, cleared the fencing, the bleachers, and the street. Neighborhood children were not allowed to play outside, nor be near east facing windows in the house during game times!

I had a player like Polanco. The harder the ball was hit the better he was. The three hoppers though, killed him. And as for his arm, it was acceptable strength wise, but like Polanco the people sitting past the first base bag were in mortal danger. There simply are players like that. Expecting Polanco to become an acceptable defensive SS is a waste of time. He can hit, of that there is no doubt. Can he hit enough to overcome the glove is the question. But at the premier defensive position in baseball that takes a lot of hitting.

So much of the Twins potential is based on offense. Of the three basics of baseball, offense is both the least projectile, and the least repeatable.

Nor did the Yankees have the benefit of such "whippy" bats and maple. Next I am waiting for the comparisons between The Babe and The Max.